Imagine if you could slow down and stop time. Take a moment to examine the beautiful detail in everything that surrounds us. We are living so fast that everything is blurred and we can’t possibly appreciate the fragility of our own existence…. that’s the ethos of this exhibition, a meditation on the beautiful detail of the natural world. Through paintings, embroidered works and a virtual reality installation – Momentary seeks to stop time.. for just a moment .. and permits us to see the beauty of an explosion, of spinning shards of glass – the beating of a hummingbirds wings, the detail concealed within its’ plumage, the incredible pattern and order that makes up the chaos.

Momentary

I am pleased to invite you to an exhibition opening at Lilford Gallery in Folkestone this Friday the 29th July. The exhibition is my first solo show in just over 2 years and brings together a collection of framed original works on paper, limited edition prints and a virtual reality installation.

Here is a little about the collection of work and also a snippet of the new pieces that will be on show at the exhibition which runs until 21st August at Lilford Gallery

Inspired by nature’s expansive colour palette these new works present a vivid alternate reality, ‘Let’s stop time’ invites the viewer to slow down and take time to reflect on the beauty within their surroundings, a chaotic solitary moment becomes a place for meditation. ‘Eternity’captures the beauty and chaos of a single brush stroke within which an alternate reality is revealed like a dream or a momentary glimpse into the life of a stranger all in a single moment. In’Perfectly Still’, the ‘Hourglass’ and ‘Elevation’ time is brought to a standstill and the beauty of nature among chaos is evident, all three works begin as an abstract composition, embracing chaos and the freedom of single strokes of paint, accidents and chaos in which we seek to find order. Rising from this chaos we find beautiful accidents of nature or creation depending on our beliefs and ideologies, it seems almost irrelevant how they occur.. what is common is the beauty in infinite detail.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

‘The Mortal Coil’ challenges us to look at our own time and existence – the brevity of our time on this planet, the place we hold among our surroundings and our connections with the natural world, as the painting pulses revealing a skull beneath the layers it reminds that we are flesh and bone,it challenges us to appreciate our short time, to make the most of our existence. In ‘Knowledge is Power’, ‘Trouble’, Brave new world and ‘Protection’ I want the viewer to look at the possibilities and opportunities that arise from a single moment – each work references the image ‘I and Love and You’ by photographer Michael Färber. Each image searches the subject for a different story, chaos plays it’s part again and these works are an example of the approach taken to painting – allowing chaos and chance to dictate the outcome.

The smaller portraits ‘momentary’ series focus on calm and meditation – both in the approach to the drawings but also in the subject itself – they are quiet moments of contemplation and time taken to reflect. These pieces were created at the end of the show and are a pause point and possibly and indication of where the work will turn next.

In addition to these and other original works I will be showing three new limited edition prints as follows;

A hand embroidered print with hand painted goldleaf details called ‘A little piece of peace and quiet’ edition of 20

The inclusion of the oracle as a print in this show is to link some of the works on black paper I have produced with a virtual reality installation piece called ‘Momentary’. The piece takes elements from all of the new paintings and blends these with details from the works on black paper – but it does so in a virtual space using the HTC Vive Headset viewers are able to explore this virtual environment and examine the painting in it’s virtual sulptured form.

Just out of reach brings to attention the things which we desire and reminds us of the importance of the natural world. Combining imagery from advertising and fashion with nature, the artist utilises the powerful ‘selling gaze’ and uses it to transport the viewer into a fantasy world abound with rich nature and lush vegetation. The broken shards of glass symbolise the moment of realisation, when we rediscover the beauty in our natural surroundings. The use of glazes on the shards of glass and the opulence created by the 24 ct gold detail serve to question just what riches are and what is important in life.

Last chance to grab the open edition ‘Underneath it All‘, at a hugely discounted price. Recently launched with Derbby,

this is a quality archival giclee edition retailing normally at $149, but available during this opening week from a price starting at $25. Derbby run a unique pricing system which sees the price increase by $1 per sale. The current price is $47 and this special offer will end on Tueday the 29th March.

Furthermore, each of derbby’s previous published editions will be available at 50% discount if bought with the new print. This includes the open edition.

‘Just out of Reach’

‘Flight’

‘Inner Worlds’

Thanks for reading and please email carne@carnegriffiths.com if you have any questions

I’m delighted to be launching a new 20×16″ print on Wednesday the 27th Jan, with Derbby.

Derbby have a unique price structure which works great, making the early prints in an edition extremely accessible. The usual selling price of Derbby Prints is $149 but for the Flash Sale the price drops to $25.. and that’s where it gets interesting, each successive sale raises the price by $1 !

Derbby aren’t cutting corners however, the print is made on a bright white Epson archival paper at a heavy 330gsm! this is embossed with the Derbby logo and accompanied by an artists signature by way of a certificate applied to the reverse of the piece… this results in a clean ready to frame image.

The piece itself was created in January of 2016 and experiments with creating more layering and more detail than usual, I wanted to give Derbby an image that would translate well in the reduction to a print, making the detail finer and crisper. Continuing on from the earlier piece this year entitled all I want is everything, the piece reflects on commercial desire, our relationship with nature, and the unattainable. I’ve included some work in progress images below to show the process of making the work.

If you are interested, the original work will also be made available through Derbby via a unique bidding system. Checkout www.derbby.com for more details.

Like this:

This is probably the final piece created for 2015, a hypnotic state, for a client in the US.

The piece returns to a theme of shattered glass that I used in the Inkd Gallery exhibition Fragile a number of years back – I am fascinated by optics and also how best to convey them in this medium. The thing about drawing glass is that it has very little form or shape itself. It’s interesting, the way in which it displaces the things round it.

I’m excited about expanding the palette with a new range of calligraphy inks with a more intense colour base too and I discovered a number of new techniques working this new commission – one of which was to enhance the immediate and visceral graphite lines by tracing over them deliberately with fountain pen. There is something about the contrast of the two marks together on the page that I find really exciting, one is the chaos of the free line that comes from the subconscious, and the second is the very deliberate line, that follows the same path but in a different way. There is a repetition about the process but also a contrast in the approach, and for me it really helps draw attention and give importance to the parts of the work that are more spontaneous and automatic.

Each piece is printed onto 350gsm board and has a postcard layout on the reverse with details about the original piece. The postcards form an edition of 3500 cards, each card is hand signed by my fair hand and editioned in the left hand corner in pencil. Furthermore – you can choose a personalised hand drawn envelope for these postcards making them an ideal gift or stocking filler for xmas. Thanks for following the blog and sorry I’ve been away so long 🙂

It’s a crazy busy time for seeing artwork!! As well as the solo exhibition which is now in it’s second week at Ink’d gallery in Brighton, this weekend sees the closing of the East17 arts Trail and the opening of the nearby Wanstead Arts Trail, and next week sees the opening of the Wing Assignment at Red Bull Studios featuring over 40 artists work and showing the new piece 2 for Joy.

Fragments

The exhibition at Ink’d is the biggest collection of work I have shown to date and also the most focused. The workreflects on a hectic 2012 and is a reaction and contemplation of events that have had an effect on the early part of this year. I won’t lie.. it’s been a tough time, emotionally it has been a roller coaster year with massive highs, and some really difficult times too. The work reflects this quite openly. The shards of glass that are prominent in this collection of work developed from the falling thorns in the piece one for sorrow which hangs at the back of the gallery at Ink’d. The increased chaos and noise in the work is elevated too.

1 for sorrow reflected on the helplessness of a situation in my personal life at the time, it was an exorcism for this frustration and the process of creating the work was a huge help to me in dealing with the situation. Talking about this type of work is difficult but I think it is important to understand the relationship between daily life, and what happens in the studio. Most of the work I create is emotionally driven, it is a response to specific situations and the beginning of a piece of work is almost always impulsive, as is it’s creation. Some of the larger works however, span larger periods of time and their creation, although relying on these type of impulses also involve times of deliberate contemplation on the subject.

Of the works showing as part of the fragments exhibition, ‘1 for Sorrow’ and’ the Storm’ both underwent a similar process and this is reflected in the finished work. They may not be as light or as clean as other works in the gallery, but the grit and grime of these pieces honestly represent the journey gone through to bring the piece to it’s conclusion. They are both real battles in terms of their creation and the emotional involvement in the work.

If you would like to see the work on show – the exhibition ‘Fragments’ is open daily at Ink’d gallery in Brighton and runs until the 6th October, alternately you can see and buy all work from the show including the newly released giclee prints Guilt, Comfort, Fragment, and the triptych, Mortal, Immortal and Eleven produced by Harwood King.

The Wing Assignment

Inspiration for 2 of the pieces created this year and a planned series of continued work comes from the wonderful wing assignment project devised and curated by Nina Farrel a former colleague at Maidstone College of Art. As well as providing a platform and outlet for the piece 1 for sorrow, the project seemed intertwined with what was happening in daily life. Following 1 for sorrow, the piece 2 for joy is again an intensely personal reflection of receiving the news that I am to be a father to twins this September. Amazingly as timing would have it – the opening of the exhibition coincides with our delivery date. It will be a shame to miss the exhibition as it features a work that is a real contrast to other pieces created this year, it has a real softness and warmth and is purely concerned with our relationship with nature and if you look very carefully beyond the flower of life symbol…

The Wing Assignment opens on the 19th September – if you would like to attend the private view on the 20th September, please contact me via email, as I have a very limited number of guest tickets (including my own which I will be giving away as I will be busy elsewhere!)

Age of East 17

This weekend is the last chance to see this great exhibition, brought together by Nadiya Tokarska, at Tokarska gallery Walthamstow. Just a short walk from Blackhorse Road tube, along forest Road. The exhibition features artwork from Carne Griffiths, paintings from Jason Hawkridge, a Mark Burton photography exhibition about the Olympic Torch in Waltham Forest, and paintings from Nadiya Pavliv-Tokarska. The Tokarska Gallery is one of the best permanent galleries in the local area, so it is well worth a visit if you’re exploring the E17 Art Trail (which we will blog about separately).

I am delighted to be showing a small series of floral works, amongst the newly released triptych of prints from Harwood King

Wanstead Arts Trail

I am delighted to be showing work again as part of this year’s Wanstead arts trail, at the Beautiful Blush Temples florist on the high street. Opening today, the small collection of work on show represents the first steps to working as a artist full time. Although they are tighter and show a stronger influence of embroidery design, the pieces show clearly the transition to finding a style of working and to breaking free from the constraints of floral embroidery design in different ways.

Following the busy month of september, I will be showing work at the following art fairs, with Eyestorm and Coates and Scarry.